Vehicle wheel assemblies typically include a brake system with a tire mounted to a rim, brake rotors, and brake calipers, where the brake system is attached to the vehicle suspension system. Brakes turn the kinetic energy of a vehicle's motion into heat, which the brake rotors must then dissipate to the atmosphere. With continued use, the brake system gets hotter and hotter, and as the heat builds up, the vehicle may experience a loss of stopping power and potentially warped brake rotors. Therefore, measuring brake rotor temperature is important in the development of optimized braking systems.
Brake temperature monitoring systems are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,717,159 to Todd et al. discloses a brake monitoring system and method that incorporates a temperature sensor that measures temperature adjacent to the brake. The system is mounted to the brake caliper housing, and is an integral part of the wheel hub and braking systems that must be assembled together. In addition, it does not directly measure the wheel hub temperatures. This brake monitoring system, and other similar prior art, comprises systems that are wired, and do not rotate with the wheel hub. Consequently, such monitoring systems cannot directly measure the wheel hub temperatures, since the wheel hub is rotating with respect to the monitoring system. In addition, as such systems are an integral part of the wheel hub and braking systems, significant set up time is required for installation.
Thus, there is a need for an improved brake rotor temperature measurement system that is easy to install, and that provides accurate absolute temperature.